Daily Devotions
March 26th, 2018 by Pastor SolleyMatt 27:62-66
62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
KJV
Some phrases stand out in my mind. When Pharaoh asked “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” That stands out in my mind. When asked by Moses when God should take the frogs out of the land and Pharaoh answered “Tomorrow”, that stands out in my mind. When Isaiah answered the question of the Lord with “Here am I; send me”, that stands out in my mind. Another phrase that stands out in my mind is when Pilate gave permission for the Pharisees to seal and guard the tomb of Jesus and he told them “Make it as sure as ye can”. They desperately wanted to keep Jesus in the tomb. If Jesus was an imposter as they claimed, if Jesus was not the Messiah as they insisted, then why worry about the tomb? Yes, they claimed that the disciples would carry Jesus away, but that was not what they were really worried about. What if Jesus was the Son of God, was their Messiah, and they rejected Him, what then? So they had to do all they could to keep Jesus in that tomb. But few things, perhaps nothing, have ever been more sure than the fact that Jesus would rise from the grave. As we lead up to Easter Sunday I want to focus on the empty tomb, what that secured, and what it means for each and every individual born into this world as well as those who are born again. To begin, it means that God the Father was satisfied with the sacrifice of His Son and His shed blood. The stamp of approval of Jesus came in an audible voice at His baptism and then at His transfiguration. The stamp of approval on His sacrifice and shed blood is the empty tomb. Few heard that audible voice at His baptism, fewer still at His transfiguration, but all the world acknowledges the empty tomb. The first things the resurrection of Jesus Christ speaks to is God being satisfied, for all eternity, with the sacrifice of His Son and the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the remission and forgiveness of sin.